James Darling and Lesley Forwood, installation view of ‘Living Rocks: A Fragment of the Universe’, 2018. Video still. Courtesy: the artist and Hugo Michell Gallery, Beulah

'Living Rocks: A Fragment of the Universe' is an ambitious installation, achieved in collaboration with Jumpgate VR and the Australian String Quartet.

On a trip to the Limestone Coast, an ecologist informed Darling and Forwood that they would find thrombolites, rare rock-like microbial structures, which photosynthesise when emerged from beneath water.

Darling and Forwood have responded to the extraordinary natural structures with an expansive and evolutionary installation, which includes flooding two thirds of the 17-metre long gallery. Jumpgate VR has generated a landscape spanning three billion years. ‘Living Rocks’ will also feature an original score composed by Paul Stanhope which has just been recorded by the Australian String Quartet at UKARIA Cultural Centre.